Deputy uses Taser on chase suspect running on I-30

A police chase involving multiple law enforcement departments ended with a Rockwall County sheriff's deputy using a Taser on the suspect as he fled across I-30 Tuesday afternoon in Garland.

Author:
WFAA , WFAA

Published:
8:50 AM CDT October 12, 2016

GARLAND, Texas -- A police chase involving multiple law enforcement departments ended with a Rockwall County sheriff's deputy using a Taser on the suspect as he fled across I-30 Tuesday afternoon in Garland.

According to authorities, the chase began when Garland police were called to a Kohl's store on a suspicious person, possible theft call off North President George Bush Highway. Police say Kohl's employees noticed two men who had been the subject of an internal company bulletin after allegedly stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise from other locations.

Employees told police one of the men was sitting outside the store in a Ford F-150 that matched the description of the suspects' vehicle in the other thefts. Responding officers attempted to stop the vehicle in the parking lot, but the suspect fled in the truck.

He then led police on a vehicle chase that traveled into the Rowlett area. At that time, Garland police asked for assistance from Rowlett law enforcement. However, authorities called the chase off when the suspect began driving in the wrong direction at a high rate of speed on I-30.

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Jimmy Orlando Wheeler

A short time later, a pilot in a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter spotted the suspect on a residential road in Rowlett. By the time authorities arrived at the scene, he had already fled the scene in a truck, at one point hitting a fence.

Another vehicle pursuit ensued before the suspect eventually pulled over and abandoned the truck on the westbound service road of I-30 at Broadway Boulevard. The suspect then ran into eastbound traffic on I-30 as a deputy followed. Just after the suspect jumped a median into the westbound lanes, the deputy fired a Taser, violently sending the suspect to the ground as a vehicle narrowly missed him.

Police identified the driver of the vehicle as 38-year-old Clinton Tyron Lang Jr. He was charged with evading arrest, theft between $750 and $2,500, and two felony theft warrants out of Dallas County.

A second suspect who was captured near the Kohl's store was identified as 49-year-old Jimmy Orlando Wheeler. He was given a charge of theft with two or more pervious convictions of theft of less than $2,500.